What would be your first reaction if you saw this? Scared, because your life is completely enslaved to Google. Or, hopeful because this suggests that something better has already arrived?

Well, no one is chipping on that digital tombstone yet. But right now, go ahead and feel both those above emotions for a moment. Yes, Google has fenced us in and completely tethered us. And, let’s be hopeful because that better search engine is going to arrive. From all signs, it is going to Google armed with Frankesteinian artificial intelligence.

These Search Engines Do What Google (Still) Can’t

Some are worthy contenders for the second-place medallion while some are just go into those niche corners of the web. Let’s take an interest in some novel search engines that reach the little cubbyholes where even Google can’t.

Google does good for the world in its own way. Ecosia does its bit in a small way. As you browse, the 80% of the ad profits go into programs that help to plant trees in Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Indonesia and Peru. The search engine uses a modified Bing custom search. You can use Ecosia on your desktop computer or laptop and also on iOS and Android.

Read through their FAQ where they open up about the project and also show you the progress of their planting programs.

Open your bag of privacy tools to add Qwant to the collection of no-tracking search engines. Qwant is also a more visual search engine compared to Google. The search engine also utilizes Microsoft Bing. You can register and log-in to create visual boards by bookmarking the results you like. The privacy policy on the site says,

Even when you are connected with an ID, we don’t use any cookie nor any other tracking device when you browse the site.

Local storage on your machine is used to save your settings and data. Any personal data connected to your ID is also deleted after you cancel your account.

Click the hamburger icon on the top right to tweak the settings. Peekier auto-suggests search keywords and you can further refine them with more keywords integrated in the search bar after the results.

Google has some wonderful collaborative apps. Google Search isn’t one of them. This gap is somewhat plugged by SearchTeam which calls itself a “collaborative search engine”. It’s a good concept for teams who want to save time when they are looking for the same things.

A few more things to try out — use SearchTeam to plan a vacation with family members and friends. Try to plan a reunion with your extended family. Or, research the web for a medical condition.

Invite others into your SearchSpace with email. If you log-in with a Facebook account, SearchTeam will automatically suggest the people you want to invite. SearchTeam has only one obstacle – it is not free like Google. You can try out the interesting idea with a free trial account till the founders offer a free version.

Yippy is bit more than a traditional search engine. Some of you might remember it by its old name – Clutsy. And as the old name suggests, it de-clutters search results by tapping into several search engines. It then combines the results and groups similar results into groups. You can shovel deeper into your search with the group keywords on the left.

The meta-search engine also filters out undesirable results, so you can recommend it as a good educational search engine for kids.

Search the Web with These Niche Search Engines

JustWatch has one purpose only – turn you into a movie and TV series addict. We don’t mind. Online streaming is sending cable back to the dinosaur age. So, if you are a cord cutter you would want to discover where your favorite show is on next. It’s also a shortcut to find out what’s new on each streaming platform.

You can customize your preferences and use the easy filters for providers, many different genres, IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes ratings, prices, HD/SD, or release year. JustWatch also has apps for Android and iOS.

It is just possible that our grandchildren will be communicating in GIFs only. Okay, that’s farfetched. But, you can be prepared if the animated dystopian future comes true with Giphy. Google does a good job of finding animated GIFs now, but I bet the world still flocks to Giphy through their mobile keyboards. Try it out on the desktop next time.

Google Search still hasn’t caught up with the wave of 3D printing. But this search engine steps into the niche. It is still in beta, but nearly 800,000 models from different model collections should be enough to inspire your next 3D design.

You can check out the complete details of the design. Save it or download it for your own work. Do note that many designs are paid but you can filter them out from the search page.

Are you a coder or a web developer? Give this search tool a try for your next Open Source project. Libraries.io helps you find libraries, modules, and frameworks from the open source ocean. Their plug says that they monitor 2,285,392 open source libraries across 33 different package managers.

Search projects by language, license, and keyword. The site will also notify you of new releases when they become available.

I thought Google Translate could handle it. But Ludwig is an interesting language search engine that approaches from the other side. Don’t type the sentence you want to translate. Type the best guess of the English translation you need.

The search engine compares your approximate sentence with a database of contextualized examples taken from standard sources like The New York Times, PLOS ONE, BBC and scientific publications. Check the list of results against your first sentence and learn the correct one.

Do You Rely Only on Google?

These search engines aren’t about overpowering Google. Think of them as “specialty” search tools. In any case, Google might be the 800-pound gorilla on the web, but there are several good options for niche searches.

I've only heard of Giphy and JustWatch, so this is an excellent list, Saikat! Peekier is definitely of interest as an alternative to DuckDuckGo (for some reason, I've never warmed to it), and I'm fascinated by NASA Images - what a fantastic resource!

How VERY depressing that nobody who offers search engines, or Kabir, is able to grasp the importance of at least providing an option of searching for EXACTLY what is asked for, not mediated by trying to decide what the user really wants, and not by ignoring "punctuation".

The phrase "in-law" (as in father-in-law, sister-in-law etc) is NOT the same as the phrase "in law" (as in "in law you may not...", for example).

Google pretty much figures that out automatically. So does duckduckgo. There are a few other hits in between, but it's 1 in 10 or less.
If you want a search that hardcore searches for nothing, but hits for "in-law" you do the following search:
+"in-law" -"in law"

As the world continues to spiral downwards further into hell, i am forced myself to make all aware who see this page in the future of the atrocity that has occurred. Sigh... FilesTube.com, *wipes away tear* no longer works.....
They changed there site into a (omg it's disgusting to even say) a LICENCED MOVIE SEARCH. Yes, you read that right, feel free to vomit, i did. The largest and most popular search engine for, well... anything really, is now a legit website... Pfft... fuckin spineless cowards, fly your pirate colors high.

Maybe engines need to search only trusted sites. I think search4alive.com is pretty good. I found everything like movies, music, programs, e-books even subtitles. They are not just giving the links and the content too. You can give it a try.

I think alot of the ability of a site to be found has to do with how well a site is built and optimized. Most are not optimized correctly and therefore the necessity for different search engines to try to figure out what a page or site is about.

Your statement about "virtually everybody" using Google now is not true. In fact, there are more people than you think that use Yahoo. Yahoo has been around longer than Google. For those of us that have been using the internet since the '90s Yahoo is usually the search engine of choice. For the younger crowd, I would agree that they use mostly Google.

Kabir,
Please, check out our search engine AAfter.com with simple features that no one has. Let me know what you think.
1. URL => multiple tinyurls
2. IP or domain => all about IP/ domain
and so on..
Cheers!
Subhankar Ray
Please, remove any duplicate comment. I had problem in commenting here.

If the results of the above engines are not from google, they are likely to have come from a site using the same technology... I simply think there is only so far you can go without relying on some sort of expert or human-based filter to clear away the weeds and find what works. Mahalo is fine but seems increasingly weak. Sweetsearch.com is one just launched that appears to have some staying power.

To second Timothy's comment above, I will say if you can't find any of these things with Google, you are using it wrong. See here if you really want a powerful search that will find exactly what you're looking for: johnny.ihackstuff.com/ghdb.php

These are good but what about the growth in human-powered search and research services? I still have trouble filtering through the ads and jazz when I am doing research online. I may not be 100 percent on the human-driven services but sites like sweetsearch.com are certainly growing on me.

Now what'd be handy is if these results could be shown as just the links ordered by the number of times a link is tweeted - anyone know anything that does something like this? Thought I read about something on Mashable about this but can't find it now.

It is time people wake up to the grave dangers in putting everything into the corporate hands of just one or two companies (online or off). Therefore, I thank you for showing that it is not just possible, but doable.

Saikat Basu is the Deputy Editor for Internet, Windows, and Productivity. After removing the grime of an MBA and a ten year long marketing career, he is now passionate about helping others improve their storytelling skills. He looks out for the missing Oxford comma and hates bad screenshots. But Photography, Photoshop, and Productivity ideas soothe his soul.